144 



NATURE 



[April 13, 19^6 



the Equisetales and Sphenophyllales ; papers on 

 Jurassic floras of France ; and especially his recent 

 work, in part in collaboration with M. Tison, on 

 the flowers of the Gnetales and the systematic 

 position of the group. Lig-nier's activities ranged 

 over a wide field ; he was a botanist of marked 

 originality, a generous friend, and a man imbued 

 with the true scientific spirit. It was through his 

 persistence that a botanical laboratory was built 

 at Caen, and under his able direction the Uni- 

 versity became an important centre of botanical 

 research. A. C. S. 



NOTES. 



At the ordinary scientific meeting of the Chemical 

 Society, held at Burlington House on Thursday, April 

 6, Dr. Alexander Scott, president, announced that the 

 council had decided that an extraordinary general 

 meeting of the society should be summoned for 

 Thursday, May ii, to consider the question of the 

 removal of the names of the nine alien enemies from 

 the list of honorary and foreign members of the 

 society. 



Replying to a question relating to the inventions 

 branch of the Ministry of Munitions, Dr. Addison 

 said, in the House of Commons on April lo : — The 

 Director-General of Munitions Design is General Du 

 Cane. His salary is 2000Z. per annum. The Super- 

 intendent of Research is Colonel R. A. Craig. His 

 salary is 850Z. per annum. The present salaries of 

 his staff range from 750?. per annum to 240J. per 

 annum. It is not desirable to give their names. In 

 addition to the staff of the Superintendent of Research, 

 a number of most eminent chemists and other men 

 of science in the country have for many months given 

 their services to the Ministry of Munitions without 

 payment, and have rendered invaluable assistance to 

 the country. 



Sir Colin Campbell Scott-Moncrieff, whose death 

 occurred on April 6, in his eightieth year, was a man • 

 of distinguished parts, who achieved reputation in 

 three several directions, as a soldier, as an engineer, 

 and as an administrator. Born in 1836, his military 

 career commenced at the age of twenty, when he 

 entered the Bengal Engineers as a second lieutenant. 

 He was engaged in the suppression of the Indian 

 Mutiny, for which he received the medal. In 1883 

 he retired with "the rank of Colonel. From that date 

 he devoted himself to the inauguration and execution 

 of engineering projects of a utilitarian character, con- 

 nected in the first instance with the agricultural de- 

 velopment of -the North-West Provinces, by artificial 

 irrigation. He also held office as chief engineer for 

 Burma. In 1883 his services were transferred to 

 Egypt, where he acted as Under-Secretary of State 

 Public Works at Cairo. There, where perhaps his 

 best and most notable work was performed, his efforts 

 were concentrated upon the more effective regulation 

 of -the existing water supply for purposes of irriga- 

 tion, and during his tenure of office he carried out 

 the restoration of the Great Nile Barrage — a difficult 

 and tedious operation, which extended over a period 

 of six years. A comprehensive review of his labours 

 and of the difficulties which he encountered and over- 

 came is to be found in a paper entitled " Irrigation 

 in Egypt," which was published in the Professional 

 Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1893. This 

 paper is the substance of three lectures delivered by 

 Col. Scott-Moncrieff before the Royal Engineers' Insti- 

 tute, and it contains much interesting information on 



NO. 2424, VOL. 97] 



the Nile and its treatment, particularly as regards 

 the restoration and adaptation of the barrage, which 

 was effected in circumstances of great discouragement 

 and no little opposition. In 1892 he left Egypt for 

 home, and for the next decade he was in office as 

 Under-Secretary for Scotland. Then, at the beginning 

 of the century, he returned to India to take up duty 

 as president of the Indian- Irrigation Commission, for 

 which service he was rewarded, in 1903, with the 

 K. C.S.I. He had previously, in 1887, been made 

 K.C.M.G. 



We regret to record the death 01 Sir Alexander R. 

 Simpson, emeritus professor of midwifery in the Uni- 

 versity ot liuinDurgh. Aithougn above eighty years 

 of age, he was active both in mind and body, and it 

 was on his way home from a meeting through the 

 darkened streets that he was knocked down by a 

 motor-car and received injuries troni which he died 

 shordy afterwards — on the night of Thursday, April 6. 

 Born at 13acngate, West Lothian, in 1S35, '^^^ receiv- 

 ing his early educa"tion at the local academy, Simpson 

 went to the University of Edinburgh, and began the 

 study ot medicine in the apprenticeship days. He was 

 apprenticed to John Goodsir, the anatomist, and 

 amongst his other teachers was Syme. After his 

 graduation ne studied abroad ac Montpelier and Ber- 

 lin, acquiring, in addition to a widened knowledge ot 

 his protession, that tacility in speaking French and 

 German which made him such an admirable and 

 acceptable representative of his University at many 

 foreign congresses. On his return he for some years 

 assisted his uncle. Sir J. Y. Simpson, then at the 

 zenith of his fame, and after an interval of five years 

 spent in practice in Glasgow, succeeded him in the 

 chair of midwifery and the diseases of women and 

 children in the University of Edinburgh. This chaif 

 he held for thirty-five years, 1870-1905. In 1906 he 

 received the honour of knighthood. Simpson had a 

 wide knowledge alike of the history, theory, and prac- 

 tice of his profession. He practically grew up with 

 the modern science of gynaecology, and he was always 

 awake to every new development of it, and familiar 

 with everything of importance written upon it in all 

 languages. His contributions to the literature of his 

 department were numerous and valuable : many of 

 them are collected in his ^' Contributions to Obstetrics 

 and Gynecology." Sir Alex. Simpson took a wide 

 and responsible view of his professorial functions, and 

 interested himself in all that concerned the welfare of 

 his students and the University. Lady Simpson pre- 

 deceased him several years ago, and he is survived by 

 four sons and a daughter. 



The death is announced, at sixty-five years of age, 

 of Sir Stafford Howard, K.C.B., formerly Commis- 

 sioner of Woods and Forests, a post to which he was 

 appointed in 1893, and retained until 1912. He was 

 also an active member of the Afforestation Committee. 



The Nieuwe Courant announces the death at the 

 age of fifty-four, of Dr. H. P. Wijsman, formerly 

 professor of pharmacy in the University of Leyden, 

 and since 1908 extraordinary professor of the chemistry 

 of foods and drugs at Utrecht. He was also secretar}' 

 of the Colonial Institute of Amsterdam. 



Science announces that the Avogadro medal has 

 been awarded to Prof. H. N. Morse, of the Johns 

 Hopkins University, for the most important contribu- 

 tion to molecular physics made since the meeting held 

 in Turin in 1911, to celebrate the centennial of the '■ 

 announcement of the hypothesis of Avogadro. 



Dr. David Hooper, formerly curator of the : 

 Economic and Art Sections of the Indian Museum at 

 Calcutta, has been elected president of the British i 



